Several days later, seventeen of us approached the northwest fortress of Shurchester lurching above the prairie on a rocky hilltop. Her towers gave the defenders an almost infinite vantage while the men-at-arms would die for the right kind of leader. A series of civilian structures surrounded the hill and the farmhands prepared the ground for this season's harvest.
"How is this working?" Hendron asked from under his hood. "We look like a band of assassins and they'll rain arrows upon us before we can tell them who we are."
"I think I should go alone to alert them of our presence," I suggested.
I looked around the group of the warriors, all of whom I've fought alongside before, and they agreed. Akisma said, "Would rather not get struck by a storm of arrows today. Tomorrow maybe."
I
